Netting of mullet

[gavsgonefishing]

This time of year I spend a lot of time combing the beaches between Caloundra and Mudjimba, I also spend a lot of time trying to catch a feed, a lot of time to no avail. I have also noticed other keen fisho's coming home with nothing for effort put in, after many hours enjoyment. So far in this part of the beaches, the season is pretty poor.

This is the time of the year where the Pro Fishers are ever present on the beaches, from dawn to dusk, waiting for a school of mullet to swim close enough to be netted. I have seen these people rape the gutters on the beaches. The by-product kill rate is high, its no wonder that I can't even loose a bait after many, many hours fishing. When is this outdated practice going to stop?

Hey while I'm on my soap box I don't really understand why the practice of jagging mullet is illegal. With a sensible bag limit of say 6 to 10 per person. I can't be as bad as netting whole schools of migrating mullet??

What do you reckon

[Lachie1]

Yeah with the jagging of mullet i don't really see why it is such a bad practise ??? It is banned now but my grandad used to find a school of mullet, tailor or the like and jag a few when going offshore and that was a bit of bait but now we cant do it. So we use the cast net at the boat ramp ;D ;D ::)

Cheers, Lachie

[mackmauler]

They are netting them in the dark at straddy at the moment, they were flashing spot lights in my eyes as I went through the bar the other morning, on the mad search for them I guess. can't do the jew fishn much good taking a lot of prime bait away.

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

not to mention the jew that end up in the net !!!

Jagging is an indiscriminate form of fishing that injures a lot of fish that are not captured & those that are captured but not wanted (wrong species / undersize) have little chance of surviving release - sort of sounds like netting really.

chris

[ferralflyer]

Well guys, without pros,no fresh prawns,no oinions for bream,no fresh mullet fillets for jewies,no fresh whole mullet for crab pots,no fresh squid for deep sea,you want your cake and eat it to,I suppose you will blame the pros for this cold snap to, this cold will have a big affect on fishing this winter, if you cant catch a fish dont blame the pros GIVE UP fishing. [smiley=angryfire.gif]

[MangroveJase]

oh oh , this is going to get good. Ferral I think you are going to be a popular man.

[ferralflyer]

He Who Knows Danger Has No Fear, that my motto,CHEERS [smiley=devilish.gif]

[Gazza]

He Who Knows Danger Has No Fear, that my motto,CHEERS [smiley=devilish.gif]

Ahhh FF , [smiley=stop.gif]
It's a VERY rare and braveheart Pro.
who actually leaves some [smiley=stupid.gif] of the mullet/jewies/prawn for Recreational Fishers [smiley=behead.gif]

i know, i know ,the cold weather we do thankyou for ,plenty of bream and reefies around.
[smiley=iloveyou.gif]

Regards
Gazza

[jaybee]

Gotta agree with ferralflyer to some extent, we will still need the pros to feed us, for exports for the country :-/ and supply bait, its about sustainable fishing practices, not wiping out the pro industry. Its happening slowly with closures of certain beaches, bag and size limits, i believe sth stradbroke has some proposed beaches, just to mention one spot. I use to jag mullet mainly for the roe, then fillets and frames. I would love to be able to go to the local shop and buy some mullet roe but it all goes over seas for a premium price that i cant afford and wouldn't pay if could. When you can get get roe at Raptis it is very poor quality indeed for the asking price usually around $38 a kg. All fish are sexed on the beach now and put into separate eskies, the roe fish bring a slightly higher price but not that much. I believe roe is now bringing between $60 to $120 a kg on the export market to the USA. When you see mullet fillets @ $10 for 3kg The pro is recieving around $1.50 - $2 kilo for the whole mullet, I beleive a good filleter can get a return of 38% of fillets from a 20kg bin of whole fish. work that one out. Sounds like a lot of hard work for the pro for very little return to me
cheers

[gavsgonefishing]

Feralflyer,At the risk of starting an ongoing argument that cannot be settled, there are a couple of things you have got wrong.

Firstly I have not and do not blame the Pros or anybody else for the weather, cold snaps or any other rubbish that has been dreamt up. Through the actions that I have personally seen, and reports that I have read, I do have a problem with what seems a lack of understanding, foresight or care regarding the management of fish stocks of today. I believe that amateurs and pros alike need to work on fishing in a sustainable manner so there will be something left for the future.

Its not only the beach netters that are taking its toll, I was out off Moreton probably a year ago, just south of Hendersons. There were acres of slimeys etc schooled up. They didn’t really move that much through the year, and they used to attract the billys, cobia and other pelagics. One particular day we went there for a fish and there were several pro boats netting the lot. Result being to this day, no more bait grounds. I am still not sure whether this was legal or not.

We used to catch tailor off Stradie in the bay at on of the beacons through August. One particular sitting, The netters did the job on the hole, I saw them take the lot, undersize all species,the lot and afterwards,we couldn’t even pull a bream out of it.

Years ago when you drove out to the banks there used to be miles and miles of bait schools which used to hold billfish etc. They were that prolific that trolling lures or dead baits was never necessary ( although I find it a little more challenging) as you could simply live bait. These stocks have been depleted that much that bait grounds like the 18m, 21m chardons etc are almost non existent. I notice the there is over 40 longliners working out of Mooloolaba, where do they get their live bait from? I can only guess.

I could keep going, but hopefully you get the idea. The current fish stock needs to be managed a little more carefully so there are fish to catch in the future. If that means that I will have to dig Yabbies or cunjevoi for bream or catch tailor of tuna instead of buying mullet for my jew fishing, than so be it (Its fun anyway). As for my fishing ability, it can only improve through practice.

[Gazza]

Gotta agree with ferralflyer to some extent, we will still need the pros to feed us, for exports for the country #:-/ and supply bait, its about sustainable fishing practices, not wiping out the pro industry.

Fair comment JB , but gee whiz ,DIDN'T the Hong-kong market drop Coral Trout "EXPORTS" like a "lead balloon" when the SARS virus hit..... ??????

Pro's will tend to eliminate themselves ,IF there's too many Pro's, and not enough customers are buying.......
and do it to them again ,& again ,& again

Food-4-thought................now !! we can all behave and FOCUS on Grumpa !!!

Regards
To ALL fishpersons
Gazza

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

net & trawl fisheries have major problems with sustainability & profit v yield for reasons that "collect" fisheries do not.

"Collect" fisheries such as Abalone are discriminate in what they take. I am aquainted with licence holders in WA who will collect to a density in an area - they will leave legal product in an area if the number of product in that area is too low - these guys are third generation ab lic holders & know their stuff. They have a quota but trickle the product into the market to sustain wild levels, maintain price & quality of the product - they also actively participate in niche market penetration such as the live export industry into Asia.

Netting, in particular drag netting beaches, by its nature works against profit & sustainability. On a given morning if one team of netters drags 3 tonne of mullet chances are most teams along the coast has scored as well due to wind, current & tide patterns - the market has a glut the price goes down - the product has been dragged thru the water up a beach being crushed by its own weight its quality diminished - even more in its handling post capture. On their next decent haul the market still has mullet around at a cheap price because of its age or being frozen - they them compete against their own catch to get a decent price.

Mullet is not a prize eating fish but its worth more than a lousey $1.25/ kilo the guys that capture it get - their answer in the past has been to catch more fish & fish longer - that isn't smart - that isn't "harvesting".

I am not against pros, as I said I know a few - the industry needs to get smarter - the fishermen need to get better control of their product & learn how to manipulate the market to their advantage, its a problem with many primary producers - the trouble with fishing ... its readily exhaustable.

chris

ps shit that sounded serious - must be time for my afternoon coffee

[jaybee]

Gazza
Fair comment JB , but gee whiz ,DIDN'T the Hong-kong market drop Coral Trout "EXPORTS" like a "lead balloon" when the SARS virus hit.....

Pro's will tend to eliminate themselves ,IF there's too many Pro's, and not enough customers are buying....... Sure did Gazza, but who set up the exports in the first place to put pressure on the pros to catch more fish??

Chris
Mullet is not a prize eating fish but its worth more than a lousey $1.25/ kilo the guys that capture it get - their answer in the past has been to catch more fish & fish longer I like eating sea mullet and its a proven fact with all the right oils in the flesh it is the healthiest fish in the ocean...Love it smoked and grilled..yummooo...and i agree it is worth more then $1.25 the pros get, and if the co-ops insist on the pros sexing the fish so they only get the roe fish then maybe they should be paying more seeing what they get for roe, but what is this going to create, will it in turn urge the pro to fish harder for more females, or should a tonnage be bought in, if so how many male fish will be left dying on the beach so they can make up the tonnage in females... I personally beleive all mullet should be weighed into 20 kg bins like the old days, then both the co-op processors and corner shops bid on the whole or part of a consignment, if a bin has more females or males then what you pay for is what you get.
cheers
joe

[gavsgonefishing]

I actually prefer fresh mullet to most reefies ;D ;D ;D

[spike2]

havent bought bait or fresh fish in over five years , fishing is primarially a sport and a way of life for myself and my mates We release 90 percent of all our catch . the ten percent we keep is savoured over a social b b q
Personally l dont benifit directly from professional fishing at all ,and feel the more licenses that are bought back the better

spike

[Doctor_Bait]

The netters were out on Bribie's ocean beach yesterday morning. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's not, but it's the first time I've fished Bribie without catching anything.

[Hainer]

Lets not blame the pros for everything thats wrong in fishing. Sure, I have my concerns about some of the professional fishing that goes on but what about the selling of fish and crab on the black market by professional ametures, or the raping of mud crabs by certain members of the community that are also known for the huge amounts of prawn they take.

As much as I would hate to see it, I think very strict bag limits with heavy fines for breaches or even possible closures of areas and species may be the way to go. Just look at the Blue Groper situation in NSW. Closed for how many years combined with strict bag limits and look how many there are now. Heaps.

I think we all agree there is a problem . Maybe we should all agree to disagree on the solution.

[banshee]

Fastboy,can't agree with you on commercial fisherman,but any member of the community that rapes a mud crab deserves to feel the full weight of the law !!

[Doctor_Bait]

They're game raping mud crabs, those claws can take off a finger they say let alone some bloke's c0_k

[bugman]

Gav - nice topic.

I was on North Straddie this weekend watching a pro I know beach net. He's an extremely well respected member of the pro fishing community and a very well reasoned and good bloke to boot.

Watch about three (that I saw) shots all within about 1km of the pin corner. Target was mullet but of course other species do get hit. Some tailor that I saw would have passed the 4kg mark. I wont lie that it broke my heart seeing them lying on the beach drowning but the target and predominant 90% catch was mullet.

In total - probably saw 7-9 tonnes of fish pulled off that area in 24 hours. Those fishing windows that they have wind (predominantly) and weather don't come along all the time though.

I think the netting of mullet can be sustained and in fact can make these guys a lot of money (beleive me they do get a hell of a lot more than $1.45kg for sea mullet). They know their time on netting (targeting) Tailor is limited and I actually support that. However I want to see these guys paid out for their loss of access to a communal resource. As rec fisho we don't own it - same as pro fishers don't own it. But the Govt has no plans to raise money to buy back licenses or species fishing rights which means these guys will probably continue to beach net tailor for a while yet. Early and late season Tailor can fetch these guys well and truly over $3.50 a kilo. My mate got $4+ for some early season stuff this year. (I saw tailor as $16 retail recently).

So our efforts should be on coming up with plans to enable the Govt raise revenue in order for these guys to bow out gracefully.

I hope that doesn't come accross as pro pro but more of a reasoned reply. Beach fishing is probably my favourite pastime and I hope it stays that way for 50 years.

PS the rod is proving it's wait in gold. I'm thinking of large Straddie greenback on 500ms of 6kilo just to give it a good run through. ;D

Bugman

[banshee]

About seven or eight years ago I was driving up the beach at Lennox looking for a good gutter when I came across a group of commercial fishermen working on their catch,they had a pile of mullet probably five to six cubic metres and a backhoe,they were simply taking the roe and disposing of the fish in a hole.These blokes were not breaking any laws but is what they were doing right? Likewise when I was a kid I worked on a trawler for a while,each night we threw back a lot of large sole and bream amongst other things,when I asked the skiper why he didn't take the fish in he simply answered that he was only licensed to take prawns.Who knows what the right solution is,but if we don't get it right soon we might find ourselves confined to fishing stocked impoundments for a hefty fee and being denied access to any wild stocks.